Professional Development

Editorial: Slow but Steady or Bureaucratic Quagmire?

January 6, 2014

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which had its second plenary session in Turkey last month, has a pivotal role to play in translating biological research into well-grounded advice for policymakers. The organization has been slow to get off the ground (the decision to establish it was taken more than 3 years ago). But, in light of the complexity of the issues within its ambit and the need to secure international representation of stakeholders, perhaps that is to be expected. Now that it is truly up and running, will IPBES provide the sort of authoritative advice on key issues that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has, for the most part, provided? And will it avoid some of the misfortunes that the climate panel brought on itself? Read how BioScience authors have approached the issue.